Minute to Midnight
by Mstress.Midnight
Summary: This story explores a universe where Zim is a real threat to the planet, and where the humans are now prepared for invasion, however they may have bitten off more than they can chew. Full premise of the story inside.
1. Story Premise

**Minute to Midnight**

This narrative will be a darker take on the Invader Zim universe, one where the invaders are truly dangerous. Irkens are feared all over the galaxy, they are the harbingers of pain and suffering, to have one in your planet is a countdown to genocide. They are masters at what they do and when a race finds out they are harboring an invader; it is already to late.

In this take Zim is sent to Earth truly in a secret mission, sent to scout not only our planet but everything in our vicinity. How will the Earth fare with a Zim that is more competent at conquest, resourceful perhaps a bit deranged but most importantly one who is not naive.

One thing is for sure, the planet isn't going to give up without a fight, especially Dib, not when he has the best minds working under him dedicated to planetary surveillance and his dad's whole arsenal of inventions at his disposal.

The first contact Earth had with an alien race turned out to be pleas for help during their final moments before invasion, after that messages started piling up from all over the galaxy, sent to anyone in the universe who would listen: pleas for help, resources, weapons and refuge. That made something very clear to the people of Earth, having an Irken on your planet was the worst thing that could happen to a population and so programs were funded and teams were created to prevent any such invasion from happening on Earth.

What Earth failed to realize was that granting asylum to refugees put the planet directly into the line of fire. Now with an invader in the way the clock started ticking down, the minute hand reaching ever closer to midnight.


	2. Chapter 1

**Minute to Midnight**

_The premise of the story is inside, a new take on Zim invading Earth, with a darker story and a planet more prepared to handle the Irkens._

This narrative will be a darker take on the Invader Zim universe, one where the invaders are truly dangerous. Irkens are feared all over the galaxy, they are the harbingers of pain and suffering, to have one in your planet is a countdown to genocide. They are masters at what they do and when a race finds out they are harboring an invader; it is already to late.

In this take Zim is sent to Earth truly in a secret mission, sent to scout not only our planet but everything in our vicinity. How will the Earth fare with a Zim that is more competent at conquest, resourceful perhaps a bit deranged but most importantly one who is not naive.

One thing is for sure, the planet isn't going to give up without a fight, especially Dib, not when he has the best minds working under him dedicated to planetary surveillance and his dad's whole arsenal of inventions at his disposal.

The first contact Earth had with an alien race turned out to be pleas for help during their final moments before invasion, after that messages started piling up from all over the galaxy, sent to anyone in the universe who would listen: pleas for help, resources, weapons and refuge. That made something very clear to the people of Earth, having an Irken on your planet was the worst thing that could happen to a population and so programs were funded and teams were created to prevent any such invasion from happening on Earth.

What Earth failed to realize was that granting asylum to refugees put the planet directly into the line of fire. Now with an invader in the way the clock started ticking down, the minute hand reaching ever closer to midnight.

**Chapter 1**

Red and Purple eyes illuminated by a massive screen were narrowed in concentration as they followed the flight path of a small spittle runner, its destination a small planet in the zeta sector. Expected time of arrival, ten cycles. Its mission: to scout, destroy and eliminate. The empire had no need for a planet so far out of course from the current invasion path, this was simply meant to teach a lesson. Resistance was futile and hope useless, to aide escaped Irken property was to go against the empire and no one goes against Irken rule.

All across the universe there were rumors that this planet Urth was offering asylum to any invaded race, a trade in exchange for information and technology. It had escaped the Empire's notice at first but in a few invaded planets a couple pieces of Irken equipment went missing, coinciding with the rumors stirring.

A planet possessing their technology was not ideal so a mission was sprung forth for the planet to be dealt with quickly, efficiently and for nothing to be left in its wake. If this small and primitive planet lacking severely in resources was daring to stand against the Irken Empire, well then, the Tallest had to make sure every single one of those inferior lifeforms understood why that was a bad idea.

They were Irkens, an unmovable destructive force and it was their right as superior beings to rule as they pleased and if a race refused to see that then, elimination came swiftly and painfully. This planet Urth wouldn't be the first resistance the Irkens had eliminated and it definitely would not be the last, not when there were still races left to cower in fear.

Though the Irken race had always been feared, it was never to the degree they were now, even as common place as their invasions had been. It was all thanks to Tallest Miyuki, what had started as a project on the smeeteries soon became much more.

Thanks to the united efforts of Tallest Miyuki and her top scientists, the data allocation algorithm within the smeeteries was perfected, making it possible to detect and correct faulty Pak information, greatly decreasing the chances of a defective Irken. Additionally, the emotion suppression software within the Paks was upgraded, allowing for a more concentrated and driven race.

Shortly after the change, invasions were quicker and as successful as ever which led to more ambitious projects. This brought along the capture of planet Vort, the planet that had for so long supplied them with technology, technology that Irken engineers could now replicate and upgrade. The plan for the race had been slavitude then again that was before the Irkens knew that the planet had deluded itself into thinking they would not be offed because they were needed. No Irken had any need for an inferior race, they were not weak, so under the Tallest's orders the planet was quickly destroyed. This brought about a brief rebellion, nothing the empire couldn't handle.

At least that's what they had thought, what had been small and uncoordinated bursts of rebellion resulted in a lucky hit and the successful assassination of dear Tallest Miyuki. All rebellion efforts were squashed following that but the damage had been done and the Irken race was in need of a new tallest.

The tallest Irkens were called forth to take place in the Great Measuring. Among the candidates were Red and Purple, two elites standing at exactly the same height, the closest thing to friends in Irk, they knew the other's flaws and were complimentary to each other.

Red, level headed and calculating. A cunning leader and great strategist, with a keen eye for flaws.

Purple, diplomatic and persuasive. A master manipulator, with the power to draw a whole crowd though also content to stay in the sidelines and pull the strings.

Both equally as ambitious, with the drive and want to be the next tallest. There was nothing and no one that would stop them from achieving so.

Red had known they would not be the tallest at the assigning, he had a keen eye after all. There was a specialty technician he had seen a couple of times during his rounds who stood slightly taller, Spork was his name, he had nothing of a leader in him, really was nothing more than a buffoon. Spork was not fit to be next tallest, not like Red and Purple.

One infiltration later and with a pair of Irkens now missing a double dose of class A neutralizers, well Spork was no more. Really it was his fault for not detecting intruders to his sleeping quarters, no one that unprepared deserved the title of tallest. Now with no one to stand between them and their righteous title, they were Tallest Red and Purple by the next cycle.

Red had lost count to how many planets they had conquered and destroyed under their reign, what was clear to him was that under their rule Irkens had flourished and become what they were today and no insignificant planet like Urth had the power to destroy everything they had built. This rebellion would be terminated like all the others, the invader on the way was a testament to that fact. No amount of resistance would be too much for this Irken. Invader Zim is on the way and he is their best Irken yet.

/~~~~~~~~~/

Miles away from the massive, a spittle runner sped along quickly traversing through space. The Irken inside expertly gripped the maneuvering controllers, autopilot had been turned off almost at the start of the journey needing to keep hands occupied while he went over strategies and rough plans for the coming invasion.

This mission was an honor from the Tallest, a sign of how highly they thought of him. Invasions were an honor but were common enough, a secret mission though, was a rare occurrence indeed only for the best among the empire and Zim had always been the best. He knew it since training, the academy was just confirmation, Invader Zim had graduated at the top of his class, exceling in infiltration and engineering. Following that Zim had a key role in the success of Impending Doom 1, the small team he led had decimated a great part of the invaded races at each of their planets, mostly in part to the weapons he had modified. Zim had even received recognition from both Tallest for that and now they rewarded him with a secret mission, Zim was pleased the Tallest seemed to like him.

Invasion thrilled him, the act of subvertly infiltrating a race, learning their culture and habits only to subjugate them, destroy, terrorize and make them fear was quite frankly the best mission there was. This mission however, was to be more of a challenge since very little was known of the species, with other planets there was a baseline of information to fall to for scheme making but with Urth what few information he had could very well just be rumors, hardly enough to base invasion plans on.

Deciding some insight could probably be gained from transmissions sent from the planet the invader turned on his receiver and started cycling through. Zim briefly considered booting the SIR unit for the task but decided against it, he still had quite a few cycles until he arrived at the planet and he would go mad with nothing to occupy his mind.

A filter was set on the transmissions received so only ones with any relevance to the planet or sector in question went through, the Irken would subject himself to listening to an inferior race's meaningless chatter only if he absolutely had to.

Soon enough transmissions started pouring through but even with the filter it was a while until he heard anything of note. This planet would be interesting, he was sure of it.


End file.
